How to Plan for the Upcoming New Year: Looking Ahead at Success

The holidays are when everything can seem like it is spinning out of control for small businesses. Everyone wants to spend time with their family, but you still need to keep your customers happy while getting everything at the office finished by the end of the year. On top of all that, you should already be thinking ahead about the upcoming new year. By making some plans right now, you can get ahead of the game for your business and know exactly where you want to head starting January 1st. Here are a few ideas of things you can do to ensure your business’ success in the months to come:

Blog WritingContent marketing should be a core part of your overall marketing strategy. By providing your clients and customers with valuable content, you will be getting around all of their advertising shields and connect with them in a very real way.

One of the best methods of doing this is to have a weekly blog. Blogs can provide your customers with your knowledge and experience. You can teach them new things and help them understand the details of your industry. Not only that, building a library of well-written blogs will give you a huge advantage on social media. The more content you have, the more engagement your posts will get. Blogs help your website stay current, we can post them to your LinkedIn account, article marketing sites, and you can add them to any email marketing campaigns to add extra value. They are just darn useful things for a small business to have in their back pocket!

Blogs take time to write though, especially on a weekly basis. If you have a virtual assistant who is skilled in copywriting working for you, you don’t have to worry about that. You will have a professionally written blog waiting for you in your inbox every week. You just give the topic, and we will do the rest!

Social MediaI can’t think of a single industry out there that doesn’t have social media at the very heart of their marketing and customer service strategy. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and more have become essential parts of connecting with new customers by joining the online conversation. With more people joining all the time, along with the big changes being made to these platforms on a regular basis (for example, Twitter posts are now 280 characters instead of 140), it can be difficult to find the time to maintain the level of online engagement your business should have.

So get a virtual assistant to do that for you! Online engagement and social media is one of my strengths as a small business owner. I can use that experience to your advantage, setting up new social media profiles, customizing them to your business, and building a strategy that will win you followers and increase your engagement across the board.

Facebook AdsThe new year is a great time to reboot your internet marketing plans. The method of online advertising that will show you the best returns on your marketing investment today are Facebook ads.

Facebook is likely to maintain their status as the king of social media throughout the next year, so this is where you need to put some of your hard-earned advertising dollars. There are so many advantages to using Facebook for your marketing. Ads that would normally be blocked on other websites get through perfectly fine using Facebook’s “sponsored post” system. You can use Facebook’s demographic targeting tools to build your ideal customer base. Plus, the data Facebook provides you will allow you to tailor your future ads to better target your market.

The ins and outs of Facebook advertising can take days of online tutorials to understand. So why don’t you just hire someone who already knows exactly how to create the perfect Facebook ads for your business? A great VA should have all of the experience necessary to create attractive Facebook offers that will leave your clients wanting more.

Email MarketingDesigning and executing a brilliant email marketing campaign straight out of the gate in the new year can win you a ton of new clients, as well as reconnect you with old clients. There are so many different options for email marketing out there, from an email campaign telling clients about a big new year’s sale, to an new monthly ezine giving them a rundown of your plans for the next 12 months.

Designing any kind of email marketing campaign can be tricky. Not only do you need to have engaging copy and valuable content (like blogs or infographics), but you also need to make sure that they won’t just end up in your clients’ SPAM folder. And then there is the headache of scheduling them to go out at the right times. I know exactly how to craft the perfect subject line and create an attractive ezine and campaign that will get your clients clicking and putting money into your pocket. And by creating these campaigns with an online email marketing tool, I can make sure that they are automatically sent out at the times of the greatest potential engagement.

Project ManagementA project management system is one of the best stress-busters out there for small businesses. If you’ve been using one over the holidays, you know exactly how seeing every one of your tasks in front of you, divided into sub-tasks with due dates, can give you a real structure to help in your holiday survival. Now, imagine if you got to start your new year with that level of organization!

With a project management system, you won’t have to worry about projects falling through the cracks. All you have to do is look at it to keep everything straight and on-time. It’s like a super-charged to-do list. Yes, they can be a pain to setup but that’s what virtual assistants are for! I know exactly how to customize project management systems, like TeamWork, Basecamp, Asana or Trello for all different types of small businesses.

In fact, let me do you a favor, download my free workbook that walks you through writing your own business plan! If you do one thing for your business this year, create your business plan!

About Jennie Lyon

Jennie Lyon is the founder of Jennie Lyon Virtual Assistant Services. Jennie specializes in helping busy entrepreneurs organize, manage, develop and promote their brand! She is devoted to helping small business owners and entrepreneurs with social media, content creation, email marketing, client relations, website management, and administration services. If you are a small business owner, coach or self-employed entrepreneur struggling to find enough time in your day to focus on what you really love - schedule a free 15 minute consultation with Jennie. www.JennieLyon.com